networking with XP

Windows XP Pro is designed to connect to a network, granted. However, I have come across a problem for which I cannot find help anywhere.

Users can be set up either as "administrator" or "limited" type.

You don't want each user operating as the administrator of their PC, so you give them the type "Limited ", right? The manual, help files and microsoft knowledge base all say that users of the "limited" type will not be able to access files on another PC.

Herein lies the problem --
To connect users of an accounting program (with the app on their PC) to another PC which stores the common database, that user must be a member of the administrator type.

Surely someone else has encountered this abnormal situation. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Scott

 

...The manual, help files and microsoft knowledge base all say that users of the "limited" type will not be able to access files on another PC.

I'm not familiar with the "limited" user but in a workgroup environment (as opposed to domains which behave differently), this simply isn't true.

The Guest account has very few rights on a PC and that's what a user will have if his/her logon isn't on the network PC he/she is connecting to.

Solutions if you want them to have more rights than a guest would but less than admin or super user would give (and I agree - good idea to limit them) are basically 2.

- require each user to log on with a username and non-blank password then put a user on each PC that exactly matches that username & password

- require each user to log on with a username and non-blank password but use the exact same logon for everyone.

 

Excuse me!
It IS true that I have only 2 choices "computer administrator" or "limited ".
To see this go to Control panel > User accounts > Pick an account type. The screen on all my PCs show
O Computer administrator O Limited
As soon as you create the user name, the "guest" account goes away from the welcome screen.
Also in the "Help and Support Center ", do a search for limited user and 16 results are found. Select "users and passwords overview" and then "User Accounts on a computer that is a member of a workgroup or is a stand-alone computer ". The resulting text is [There are two types of user accounts available on your computer: computer administrator and limited...]
I apologize for saying this also occurs in the manual -- I don't have a manual (bought the upgrade OS), but I purchased Osborne's "The Complete Reference, Windows XP ". On page 99, under "What types of users can you create? ", the "Limited" type points out that this type of user cannot install s/w, open files in other people's computers, change system settings, etc.
But, back to my original question:
How can I access a file on another PC if the "limited" user is not allowed to access other computers on the network.
Maybe I am doing something wrong, and if I am, please tell me how I should be configuring these systems. This is a simple peer to peer network with only 3 PCs connected. The only reason for this network is to allow 3 people access to the same "Quickbooks" accounting database.

 

Scott - thank you for pointing out the information in the Help section. I got 31 hits on limited user though.

I'd really never seen that term in use before and I don't think I like the way they are using it very much. From what I can gather after reading that and knowing a bit about how these things really behave on a network, I'm guessing they are using "limited" as opposed to the admin account that is "unlimited ". Very poorly worded help section.

From the way that section reads it sounds like there is only a single "limited" account. On XP-Pro, that simply isn't the case.

And this was also the first time I'd ever looked at the User Accounts section in control panel. Yuck.

The following should allow you to do what you want to do. There may be minor differences as the PC I'm on right now is using NTFS and is part of a domain and some of the settings aren't exactly like they would be on FAT32 and/or a workgroup. I'll double-check when I get home this evening to see if any of this needs modification for workgroup vs. domain. Can't help if there are differences in FAT32 since I haven't run that file system for some years. However, the basic idea will work for you. If you run into anything that is too different for my directions to work, way exactly what and I'll give you modifications to make.

First, turn off "simple file sharing" on all the PCs. Windows Explorer~tools~folder options~view and it should be at the bottom. Just uncheck it and then reboot.

Next right-click on the My Computer icon and left click on Manage. Then open the Users & Groups section and then the Groups. You will see the default ones there which should include Administrators, Users, Power Users, Guests, and probably some others. Look at the general descriptions to see if any of these match what you need. All will do fine over the network.

If a group matches what you need (and I think Users does) then you are most of the way done. If not, you can create new groups and give them exactly the rights you want them to have on one folder or many folders. For now, I'll assume Users fits your needs.

Lets assume you have ComputerA that holds ShareStuff, a folder with the items you want shared over the network and ComputerB that is used by Marvin who logs on as Marvin with no password.

- create a password for the Marvin account on ComputerB and require its use at logon.

- on ComputerA
... in the Users section under My Computer~manage~etc., create a new user called Marvin with the exact password he uses to log on to ComputerB
... right-click and select properties for Marvin then click on the Members Of tab to see what group(s) the account belongs to. You will only want Users there so if it isn't already there, add it. Then delete any other groups.
... share your ShareStuff folder. Then in the security section of the share properties, make sure the Administrator group has full rights and the Users group has read/write/execute rights.

Now when Marvin logs onto ComputerB he should be able to do
start~run~\\computera\sharestuff
and that share will open so he can work with files/applications as needed.

If he still cannot work you may be dealing with a quirk in the application that requires more access. In that case, rather than making the user an administrator of either PC, you can simply give him increased rights to the specific folder(s) he needs. Easiest is probably to have the logon a member of users (as above) but in security for the folder on the local PC, the network PC, or both, give the Users group additional rights to just that one folder. My guess would be that adding "modify" to the group's rights would do it for them.

 

Thanks for the response Newt, I agree that the "limited" account type is relatively useless. I bought XP Pro because I understand the Home version does not support networking.
I'm using the workgroup method because it makes a very simple peer to peer network with virtually no overhead.
The first thing I tried was to turn off "simple file sharing and attempted to grant rights to the user, but it still didn't work. It may be as you suggest that "Quickbooks" requires more.
Thanks for the tip on "manage" > "user" > "groups ". I wondered why MS had done away with "Power User" as Windows 2000 had.
I think this might do the trick, unfortunately, I won't be able to try that for a couple days (I'm away from the office where the PCs are located for the next day or two)
Thanks again for your time.
I'll let you know later if it works.
Scott

 

Hi Scott Carroll

When "Newts words of wisdom" solves the XP network problem, but "Quickbooks" puts some additional access roadblocks in your your way,
QuickBooks® SDK Version 2.1 New Feature Summary with additional FAQ listing. The following paragraph caught my eye...

Don't know if any of this will be applicable in your needs, but it's worth a view.

 

Thanks Dennis,
I am aware of that problem, however I don't think it is a concern in this case because we have a 5 user version and all 3 PCs have the app running. I am only sharing the database so all 3 can input data and run reports.
Thanks for the help, though.
This has been a tough onr to resolve.
Scott

 

XP home version only has the two account types.

Have relative (CPA) networked with 4 computers (2 xp, 1 me and 1 98). All data is stored on main XP system.

Don't see the problem with administrator account on other xp system since file sharing is limited to data directory on main computer. The other 3 computers are just used as work stations. So why bother with a limited account on them?

 

Hi ephemarial,
The problem with allowing normal day to day operation as an administrator account type on any PC is the probability that the operator will do something "dumb" and affect the operating system, delete others' files, change passwords by mistake (or otherwise) and probably even more important, it opens the network to infection by trojans, worms and viruses. I quote Microsoft --
"Why you should not run your computer as an administrator
Running Windows 2000 or Windows XP as an administrator makes the system vulnerable to Trojan horses and other security risks. The simple act of visiting an Internet site can be extremely damaging to the system. An unfamiliar Internet site may have Trojan horse code that can be downloaded to the system and executed. If you are logged on with administrator privileges, a Trojan horse could do things like reformat your hard drive, delete all your files, create a new user account with administrative access, and so on. ... "
In short, I don't think I could ever be comfortable with a word processing or data entry type user operating a PC (especially on a network) all the time with administrator rights. Some may not see a problem here, but I've experienced disaster in the past and have no desire to relive those experiences. This is the same mentality that makes me such a "nut " on backups.
I appreciate your comments but hope you can see my dilemna.
Scott